Greetings again my Brethren.
Life and God will take things out of
your mouth if you allow them. When I
Pastored in
ARTICLE REVIEW:
Turning
Towards Life
In Luke Chapter 15 Jesus shares a wonderful parable with us about a young man who we call the prodigal son. Now I find it odd we call him the prodigal son when the Bible does not call him such. We Christians are good at naming things the Bible does not name, for example no where in the KVJ Bible are the words; Mount of Transfiguration, claim, or rapture found. The real Lord’s Prayer is John Chapter 17, not Matthew Chapter 6. We must be careful to use Biblical words, terms, and expressions if not we can easily get over into new thoughts, examples, and expressions not supported by the word of God. Dear friends we need to be careful in this area.
In Luke 15:11-13, Jesus tells of a father
who had two sons whom he divides out their goods from his and gives to them all
that they were due. Now after some time
the youngest son took his goods and “journey
into a far country” spending all he had on “riotous living,” in other words he wasted all of his money, but the
older son stayed with the father at home.
There are many wonderful life lessons we can draw from this parable, so
many truths just pop out at us to ponder and meditate on. Most often we hear this text and a message on
forgiveness quickly follows. Did you
know your amount of forgiveness is not based on God’s love for you? Oh no my friend, our forgiveness is based and
conditional on our forgiveness towards others, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not
be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:” (Luke
Another message we often hear is regarding
the older brother getting offended at the father. “And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out,
and intreated him. 29And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I
serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou
never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:” (Luke
15:28-29) Us getting offended is
a big issue to God. As a matter of fact, getting offended at God and others is
the greatest obstacle in our lives in hearing from God. When we get offended again and again at God
and others it is nothing more then a manifestation of open rebellion to God’s
dealings and judgments in our lives.
Here the older brother got offended and sadly missed out on the
fellowship with the father and his younger brother and so much more. “Great peace
have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” (Psalms 119:165) This place of great peace is God’s desires for
us. A place in Him where, “nothing shall offend them.” In the
Greek it reads, “and nothing shall cause
them to stumble and fall out of the way.”
For this to happen we must “love
thy law” and always do that which is truthful, righteous, and full of
integrity. It is no wonder we are in great peace” for we are able to clearly
hear from God and know His direction and focus for our lives. Oh what “great
peace” comes to us when we move correctly with God nothing can move us. No
nothing causes us to stumble and fall out of the way God has for us to go, we
are established, rooted and grounded like a tree planted by the rivers of
living waters.
Now there is another message which I
believe is the main point of the parable and is seldom voiced. This message is our great need to come to our
senses and turn towards the life God offers.
Please notice the father did not go after his young son. The father let his son go with all he had and
knew he would waste it. Many would say,
the father should have went and searched for is son in the far country and
brought him home, but he did not. Well,
so too our heavenly Father will give us things, even spiritual things, and then
let us go spending them until we have only nothing left. The father in all of his wealth and power
allowed his youngest son to come to the end of him self. “And
when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s
have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18I
will arise (turn towards) and
go to my father, and will say
unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,” (Luke 15:17-18) Our heavenly Father, in all of His glory,
power, and authority loves us so much He too will allow us to come to the end
of our self. When we are in sin God does not come after us nor does He force
Himself on us, oh no He patiently waits. This waiting is a passive seeking to
save that which is lost. Jesus said, “I stand at the door and lock . . .”
(Revelation
Brethren please do not misunderstand me I need
forgiveness, to be saved, healed, strengthened as much as the next person, but
let us not forsake this vital truth and requirement to turn from darkness and
move towards the glorious light of the life of God. It is our responsibility, like the young son,
to turn from death towards life and not God’s responsibility to come get
us. I wish He would at times, but God,
like the father in Luke 15, hopes we will come to the saving knowledge of our
desperate need for Him in our lives. Let
us turn aside from our ways and turn towards the life that God offers so freely
to us. Let us love Him enough to come to
Him, He is hoping we will and is waiting for us to turn towards Him. Written by David Stahl
THOUGHTS FROM SARAH:
Karen will not be adding
something this month, however Sarah, Daniel’s wonderful wife, has shared an
article the Lord gave her. Never forget,
the best is yet to come.
A
Guide for Women
I wonder how many women would answer honestly when
asked how much of their time is spent adorning their outer appearance. Honestly
I, myself, am embarrassed to share that number out loud. Oh how fruitless is
the time wasted on criticizing and plotting to change our outer image. Now I
wonder if I would receive the same response when asked how much time was spent
on adorning and conforming our hearts into the woman God wants us to be. It’s
the appearance of our heart we see reflecting back at us that we ultimately
don’t like. Hoping every time we look in the mirror maybe, just maybe, we will
see something we are a little more pleased with. What
if as women we took that leap of faith to allow God to transform us into the
woman he wants us to be? “Whose adorning let it not be that outward
adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of
apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart,
in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit,
which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old
time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in
subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him
lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with
any amazement.” (1 Peter 3:3-6)
God considers a woman adorned with a meek and quiet
spirit, in subjection under her own husband to be of a great price. We could
reach such a height in our lifetime through learning to keep our mouths closed,
hearts opened to the Lord and continually focused on eternity. “Watch
ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may
be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to
stand before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:36) Allow Him to change you into the woman He
desires you to be so you may be found worthy when you stand before Him. I believe being considered a worthy woman in
the sight of the Lord cannot be taught or observed in the examples placed
before us in our world today. Instead,
it must be by deciding to take a stand and following the word of God; which has
been laid before us, regardless of any criticism we face. You may ask: “How do we learn such a thing that seems so hard to find
today?” Well, by going to God’s Holy Word
and allowing Him to show you the things He desires to show to you. We have a duty and a direction given by God
to follow which is so simply placed before us.
No, it’s not an assignment of extremely high profile on this earth, but
the sooner we learn the importance of our heart needing changed here on earth
the sooner we can allow God to prepare our hearts for His kingdom. Most often we don’t want to get out behind
our wall of security we have fabricated
and
just trust in our husbands, in either good or bad decisions. No where in the Bible is it mentioned to
correct a wrong decision made by our husband.
But instead we are admonished to help him and support him in every
decision regardless of our own opinion.
Our opinion just drives a wedge deeper and deeper in the marriage, after
all our husbands have a natural drive to lead the family. Those opinions we
often throw around are just subtle hints to our husbands that we don’t trust
his leading, which slowly chips away at his natural drive to lead. When things are not panning out the way we
have imagined we begin to think we must take the bull by the horns, or in most
cases by taking our husbands on our manipulation rollercoaster ride until he
finally does what we want. That is a
simple lack of faith, and a lack of faith in our husband is ultimately a lack
of faith in God. “That they
may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their
children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own
husbands, that
the word of God be not blasphemed.”
(Titus 2:4-5) Ladies,
we are in danger of blaspheming God’s word by taking matters into our hands
rather than learning to trust our husbands and adorning our heats with such
characteristics that are taught to such a descriptive manner throughout the
bible. God’s way is very clear. The whole order of marriage, for women, is to
be submitted to our own husbands in everything, and not just picking and choosing
as we find advantage. There is no
example in the Holy Bible where a woman was placed over a man, with God
considering it pleasing in His sight. “Who
hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works,
but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began.” (2
Timothy1:9) The Lord has given women a holy calling according to His own
purpose, but sadly, too often, women of today have taken it upon themselves to
fulfill their own purpose. Let’s look at what God’s word says about a woman’s
purpose: “And the LORD God said, it is
not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”
(Genesis 2:18,), “I will therefore
that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none
occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.” (1 Timothy
POETRY CORNER:
Identification
By John Wright Follette
I am a flame born of celestial
fire.
I bear a name,
Insatiable Desire.
I wear in heart an image all
divine,
Past human art, not
traced by moral line.
I hear God call to taste His
heavenly power; I give my all to burn life’s single hour.
So let me burn
through fetters that would bind; Thus will I learn and freedom will I find.
I shall return to
love’s eternal fire,
There shall I burn, a
satisfied desire.
DEAR FRIENDS:
Brethren let us understand when we do
something as Christians, no mater how big or how small it has an eternal impact
in our lives. When we sin we sin against
God’s words to us. Now the word sin means to miss the mark, to know right, but
do wrong. God tells us not to lie, steal
and cheat, and we do. Now the sin is not
the act of lying, stealing, and cheating, but not doing what God told us not to
do. We think it is and try to cover
these acts with religious works and try to justify our actions, but sin is much
more. Sin issues from our heart and is a nature of physical and spiritual death.
At its lowest level sin is direct rebellion to God’s word and authority. Sin is the biggest topic in the Bible and is
the number one topic Jesus spoke about.
My friend sin is a big deal to God. He must be able to work in our lives,
through His dealing and judgments, to get us to stop sinning. How can we be used of God if we continue to
sin? We can not. If we think we can we are
fooling ourselves in believing we can
and are over in great presumption and error. When Paul was on the road to
As Christians, when we are unfaithful
in serving at the local Body, as Jesus has asked us to do, we are not
unfaithful to the local church we attend, but we are unfaithful to God Himself,
we pull down His words to us in our lives and we made His words void in our
heart, the local church, and world collectively. When we do things for people
in reality we are not doing things to them, but we are doing things unto God.
This was a continual mistake the Children of Israel made as God took them 40
years by way of the wilderness. They
thought they were talking to Moses, but in reality they were talking to God’s
direct representative who represents God’s direct authority and power. We must be very careful how we address
authorities in our lives. We must be very careful how we talk to our Pastor and
leadership in the local Church we attend.
We are not talking to them my friend, oh no we are talking to God and
God will protect His word and His men and woman. Many a Christian has been punished because
they could not measure their words and attitudes with those who are in
authority over us.
NEEDS NOT WANTS:
1. In
2. In
3. In
4. Pastor
Joseph Mutua in
5. Pastor
Mike Olufemi in the north of
6. Pastor
S. J. Peter, Founder of DAWN Ministries and Pastor Wilson and his son Pastor
Julian both near
7. Financial
support for the printing of: “Adventures with God.”
8. Pastor Metin Mintaz and the members of
Uskudar Son Buyruk Kilisesi in
9. Pastor
Elieti Msangi in Dar Es Salaam and Pastor Isreal Mutaitina in
10. Major Rob McIntosh, Chaplin,
11. Vivian’s Maternity and Child Care Clinic
project in
12. Pastor
Tek Dahl, his Church, and the radio station project in
13. Pastor Sharief Ramsis,
FUTURE SCHEDULE:
June: Local Ministry
July:
August: Local Ministry
I am still available to share what God has given me at
churches and/or home groups. If God
moves on your heart to bless the ministries I visit and share God’s love I
would be honored to make it possible for God and you. God told Abram, “I will bless those who bless
you and curse those who curse you.” (Genesis 12:3) If you want a blessing, then bless someone. Remember, God is to you what you are to God.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Address:
David and Karen
Stahl
Jacksonville , NC 28546
Phone:
Home: (910) 346-1739
FAX: (910) 346-1739
Email:
dstahl@ec.rr.com
Website:
I am
pleased to announce “God Still Performs Miracles: A Book of Personal Encouragement” is now
available and
If you
know someone you think would enjoy
receiving this newsletter or if you receive this newsletter and do not wish to
please let me know. Contributions to
this ministry is always appreciated and
needed the more time continues. Please feel free to contact me with the
above information. The cost is great, but the cost for not supporting to others
is even greater. And remember, all donations are tax deductible.
